The Indian compound men’s team beat France in the final for the second consecutive stage of the Hyundai Archery World Cup as Korea’s compound women won the host nation’s first gold medal and Chinese Taipei took the compound mixed team event in Gwangju.
“The feeling is good,” said Indian team leader Abhishek Verma. “We were the best in Turkey and we proved it again [here]. We are very happy about that.”
Verma, Rajat Chauhan and Aman Saini beat France by a point, 232-231, to take gold at the season opener in Antalya in April.
The trio entered the arena in Gwangju to face the same French trio of Adrien Gontier, Jean Philippe Boulch and Quentin Baraer – once again for the stage win. Once again, the Indian team were trailing heading into the third end of the final – and once again, they pulled things back, scored 232 for the 24-arrow match and, once again, won.
(Although this time by two points, 232-230.)
"We know the strategy of France and we know their potential,” added Chauhan. “We changed our strategy after the third round and we did very well.”
The second straight win is likely to push the Indian compound men into the number one spot in the world rankings.
Kim Yunhee, Oh Yoohyun and Song Yun Soo opened the day against an Estonia side featuring Lisell Jaatma, who had a chance at three gold medals at the start of compound Saturday in Gwangju.
But Jaatma would be denied at the first step as the home nation took a four-point win, 232-228, after turning around an early deficit to take a one-point lead (172-171) into the final end. They then finished in style with a perfect 60 to seal Korea’s first gold of Gwangju in front of a passionate home crowd.
“I am so happy that I won the gold medal here,” said former world champion Kim. “It’s already been five years since we won a medal.”
Korea’s compound men and India’s compound women won the team bronze medals earlier this week.
Chinese Taipei clinched compound mixed team gold despite equipment trouble. Huang I-Jou and Chen Chieh-Lun beat Estonia, 148-144, despite Chen shooting a six in the first end. In very windy conditions, that wayward shot only had them trailing by one point after the first four arrows.
"In the beginning, I had some problems with my equipment,” explained Chieh-Lun. “After I changed it, everything went well and I delivered a good performance.”
India secured its third compound medal of the event after defeating Turkey, 156-155, in a close mixed team bronze final.
Competition in Gwangju continues on Saturday afternoon with compound final four matches.
Podiums: Gwangju 2022
Check full results on the World Archery website.
Compound men’s team
India (Rajat Chauhan, Aman Saini, Abhishek Verma)
France (Quentin Baraer, Jean Philippe Boulch, Adrien Gontier)
Korea (Choi Yonghee, Kim Jongho, Yang Jaewon)
Korea (Compound women's team
- Korea (Kim Yunhee, Oh Yoohyun and Song Yun Soo)
Estonia (Lisell Jaatma, Meeri-Marita Paas, Maris Tetsmann)
India (Priya Gurjar, Muskan Kirar, Avneet Kaur)
India (Compound mixed team
Chinese Taipei (Huang I-Jou, Chen Chieh-Lun)- Estonia (Lisell Jaatma, Robin Jaatma)
- India (Avneet Kaur, Abhishek Verma)
Chinese Taipei (
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